(You can listen to this episode here.)

We had completely forgotten about Eleanor Estes’s The Moffats until a friend suggested that we reread it. Published in 1941, it’s the first in a series about four children growing up in small-town Connecticut in the 1910s. Both of us could relate to Jane, Estes’s anxious and bookish autobiographical stand-in.

Mentioned on this episode:

Other books in the series:

The Middle Moffat (1942), a Newbery Honor Book

Rufus M. (1943), a Newbery Honor Book

The Moffat Museum (1983)

Other books by Estes:

The Hundred Dresses (1944), a Newbery Honor Book

Ginger Pye (1951), winner of the 1952 Newbery Medal

Pinky Pye (1958)

Also mentioned:

Many Moons (1943) by James Thurber, with illustrations by Louis Slobodkin, winner of the Caldecott Prize

“The Little Match Girl” by Hans Christian Andersen

“Eleanor Estes: Chronicler of the Family Story,” by Claudia Mills, on the UConn Archives and Special Collections Blog. (This is the website with the story about pioneering children’s librarian Annie Carroll Moore, who was Estes’s boss, disparaging The Moffats after reading the manuscript.)

“Celebrating Children’s Books Week–and a pioneering children’s librarian,” on Mary Grace’s blog, My Life 100 Years Ago

Recommended by Deborah: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright; Beverly Cleary’s books

Recommended by Mary Grace: The All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor

Other Rereading Our Childhood episodes:

Rereading The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L’Engle

Rereading Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Rereading Stuart Little by E.B. White

Rereading Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.

You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.